Overnight Oatmeal Cinnamon Pancakes

I bet you didn’t know you’d be getting a world famous recipe by visiting here today.

Yep. It’s true. All because I love you. Ok, and also because I have a really awesome sister who has perfected this pancake recipe and is famous in all corners of the world (ahem, Wyoming) for it and I’m pretty sure she has people lined up outside her door in the mornings waiting for these hotcakes to flip off the griddle. So maybe it’s only her three boys, but still. Lines are lines. Not only that, she actually won a recipe contest for these babies, too! Convinced you need to make them?

Well, if not, let me just further sweeten the deal by telling you that these pancakes have stolen the pancake show in our house over the last few weeks (after I gave my sister a stern lecture about waiting years to share the recipe with me – canyouevenbelieveit!) which is saying a lot since this oatmeal pancake mix and these blender whole wheat pancakes are extreme staples in our breakfast rotation.

The beauty of this recipe – and it’s going to save my bacon on hectic, get-your-cute-little-behind-out-the-door-to-school mornings – is that the batter is mixed up the night before. It needs the essential overnight rest to thicken up and create the hearty, tender pancakes. But it also makes the next morning absolutely quick and fuss-free. Preheat your griddle, slap some pancake batter on there (all the while congratulating yourself for even making pancakes in the first place) and cook them up to golden deliciousness.

These pancakes are a game-changer. We can’t get enough! And as you can see, most normal people pour a touch of syrup on their pancakes and call it good, but when I really want to woo my kids, we go straight for the nutella. Haven’t you seen the advertisements of the perfectly put together mom slathering her kids’ breakfast toast in nutella for a healthy breakfast regimen? Dude, I’m buying it big time. Except for the put together part. You don’t want to see me in the early morning hours. Triple threat scary.

However you choose to serve these healthy, tasty pancakes they’ll be wonderful. Promise!

Check out easy buttermilk substitutions here if you don't have the real stuff on hand. Plan ahead for this recipe - the batter needs to rest overnight in the refrigerator. Feel free to add a pinch of salt or so to the batter ingredients. The buttermilk is plenty "salty" for our tastes but if the batter/pancakes taste bland to your palate, a bit of salt may help.

Prepare the batter the night before you want to make these! In a large bowl mix the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the honey, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix until the batter is well-combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or mix it in a container with a lid) and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning give the batter a good, quick stir to combine. It should be fairly thick. Heat an electric griddle or skillet on the stovetop over medium-low to medium heat. These pancakes need to cook for longer than traditional pancakes so you don't want the pan so hot they burn. If needed, spray the griddle or skillet with cooking spray. Drop 1/4 cup rounds of batter into the preheated griddle or skillet. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes until the edges are very set and bubbles are popping on the surface (again, make sure your griddle isn't too hot or the bottoms will burn for this length of time). Quickly slide a flat spatula underneath and flip the pancakes making sure they are set before flipping. Cook for another minute or so until they are cooked through. Serve warm with desired pancake toppings (or nutella, in our case)!

Jocelyn and tk – rolled or old-fashioned oats won’t absorb as much liquid leaving the batter much runnier (the pancakes won’t cook up well) so if you only have old-fashioned oats, I’d grind them a bit in a blender or food processor. Not much! Just enough to give texture like quick oats. You’ll have to experiment a bit as I always use quick oats in this recipe.

Mel I buy a buttermilk powder at a local bulk food store. If you mix it with a bit of warm water first it dissolves better then top it up with cool. It keeps forever and is always available in the cupboard.

I love your site and we have made many, many recipes from it. Thankyou

Sign me up! There is always a canister of Saco dry buttermilk powder in my fridge. It’s so handy–can’t live without it. You just add it when the rest of the dry ingredients are called for and then add the water required to reconstitute it when the liquid buttermilk is called for. Easy peasy.

Well, I’m very sad to say my waffle iron died just recently, and already we’re not too jazzed about the frozen kind I’ve been buying… But I can’t wait to give these a try. They COULD be a new Saturday morning staple!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

I have a recipe that is similar and every single time I eat these its like I’m eating a warm oatmeal cookie right out of the oven. I can’t wait to try your world famous recipe though. Love you and Love your site!!!

Mel! I can’t tell you how excited I am about these! I have 4 month old twins, (aka sleep deprived mama) and school just started. I need a quick, healthy breakfast for the school kids…and one that I don’t have to get up early to make! We are having these tomorrow! Oh, and this post made me laugh. You are hilarious! Thanks for so many wonderful recipes!

My husband teaches early morning seminary in our basement, and always makes breakfast for the kids on Fridays. Seminary just started this week, so I am checking out good (and fast) breakfast options for him. This will be perfect! I am sure the seminary kids(and my own 4 kiddos) will love them this Friday! Thanks Mel!

Hey Mel, these look awesome! I’m kinda thinking they’d be tasty with raisins… What do you think would happen if I added them to the batter the night before? Would they ruin the consistency of the batter?

These look amazing, Mel! We had the best oatmeal pancakes while on vacation at the fishing lodge in Montana. I’m hoping the chef will share them with me, but in the meantime I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love that you have to make them the night before! I am all about making recipes ahead whenever possible. Thank your sister for Em for sharing her famous recipe!

Someone else already asked this, but if you don’t use all the batter at once, do you think the unused portion would be alright to refrigerate for another day? Thanks! We love cinnamon,a nod we LOVE pancakes! 🙂

Tracey (and others) – yes, I think you could refrigerate another night. You might need to add a bit of milk/buttermilk if it’s overly thick that second morning – even though I haven’t tried it, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be just as good the 2nd morning if you adjust the consistency.

Just made these up to be ready in the morning…can’t wait and i had exactly 3/4 c. of WW (from soft white) flour left. Perfect! This will be the second recipe from you this week..the other was the Asain shrimp noodle dish. That too was a hit. Thanks for all you do…it makes a difference!

So I’m Melanie and I have a sister named Em (Emily), and am having my 5th baby this week (hopefully! Due Sat). We even kinda look alike, you and me. I think we’re kindred spirits 🙂 Can’t wait to give these a whirl!

“Ack” is right – I had the page open and didn’t refresh it before making the pancakes, so I made the recipe as it WAS written – WITHOUT the flour. So, breakfast today are burnt-on-the-outside, mushy-oatmeal-inside pancakes. Not good. I have hope that the ones with flour are good though, so I will try the recipe again … some day …

Ah, no worries! Once they cooled down, they really weren’t so bad. My kids ate them all, so I imagine the REAL version will be delicious 🙂 Everything else I’ve made from your site has been a winner (the lime coconut chicken w/coconut rice = one of our favorite dinners ever!), so I know these will be, too!

Is there no salt in the recipe? I just made them and they taste quite bland, which I know is unusual for any recipe on your blog … Because your stuff is always awesome !! And you have mace our dinner table a much haopier place (;
Maybe I just missed something … Not sure

Hi Krissy – there’s no salt called for in the recipe (the buttermilk has a salty taste and there’s a lot of it) but you could definitely add a pinch or so if the pancakes taste bland to you.

Kim – sorry you didn’t love these. Thanks to all the oats, the texture is a bit different than a traditional all-flour pancake. Also, my sister only adds 1/2 cup flour but I find that makes the batter a bit too runny for us so I upped it to 3/4 cup. If your batter is overly thick, you could thin it a bit with some additional milk.

I usually love your recipes, but this one was a flop for us. When I stirred the batter in the morning, it wasn’t just thick it was pretty much solid. I followed the recipe exactly, and they just didn’t turn out well. They were a weird texture and even on medium low they took so long to cook that they burned. They are much to fussy for a pancake. Yes you mix the up overnight but I cooked for 45 minutes this morning and just gave up. One child ate them but the others opted for regular oatmeal. I’m thinking I should have tossed the whole thing in a pan and baked it. I think it wold have made good baked oatmeal.

We are definitely going to have to try these. You have already made me a rock-star Mom in the kitchen with your Oatmeal Pancake mix that my whole family LOVES!!! So if you say these are even better….well, I believe you!!!! Thanks!

Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes!!! I’m wondering how long the batter lasts in the fridge? If we didn’t eat them all in one morning could I save them for the next couple…I also live in Minnesota and am so excited for the state fair!! Are you going? I’m sure you’d make wonderful adaptations of the amazing food there:)

Hi Jane – I’ve only ever used the batter the next morning so you’ll have to experiment a bit but I’m sure it would be fine (with some good stirring and maybe thinning a bit with some extra milk) for 1-2 extra days.

P.S. – Jane – I don’t think we’ll make it to the State fair this year (we are remodeling and moving!) but I hope to get there next year! I have a soft spot in my heart for fair food (long story I’ll have to share sometime). 🙂

Aha! I used the milk with vinegar in it since I didn’t have any buttermilk on hand, prob better with just normal buttermilk… Thanks again for all your great recipes! we actually just had your ground beef (turkey) stroganoff for lunch and it was a definite hit !! (:

Made these this morning and they were great. I did notice there was no oil in the recipe so getting them off the grill was a bit tricky…and I have a relatively new grill so don’t want to spray Pam or the like on it quite yet. Have you tried adding oil??

Hi Jodi – kind of like the salt, I think adding a bit of oil may be helpful if your griddle is a bit “sticky” – don’t blame you for not wanting to spray it with cooking spray. I have use an electric skillet that I swear, nothing sticks too, so I haven’t had to add oil but 1-2 tablespoons of oil in the batch should do the trick.

Like Pamela above, I made the recipe without flour :(. They took forever to cook and pretty much fell apart when I flipped them, but they actually tasted really good (although they looked like scrambled pancakes). I didn’t think I’d make again as it took 45 min to fry these guys and they fell apart, but maybe with flour it’ll go quicker & they’ll stick together.

Made these and they aren’t your typical pancake. Mine were thick blobs that took a long time to cook, I tried spreading them out with a spoon as they cooked because they were kind of like cookies on the pan. In the end the middle was uncooked. We still ate them and the flavor was great but if we attempt it again I would add the less flour and maybe more milk at the end. Just a heads up.

I think with any homemade pancakes the consistency can vary each time you make the recipe. I’m always having to adjust with a little more/less milk. Maybe it’s because I measure my flour instead of weighing it?

Anyway, I’m excited to try this recipe. Any breakfast that can be mostly made the night before gets an extra star in my book. Thanks for the post!

I am making these right now for breakfast! They are delicious! I only had old fashioned oats, so I gave them a quick spin in the blender last night. I added more cinnamon and vanilla because we love those favors, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. They are fluffy and soft and wonderfully delicious. 🙂

Hi Mel! I made prepared these last night exactly as written and made them this morning. They were delicious! They have a nice texture and they were very moist. My picky 18 month old and 4 year old really liked them. I think I’ll be making these regularly for kids on school mornings. They are quick and healthy.

Mixed these up last night to make after church this morning. I did add 1/3 c. more buttermilk right before to thin the batter out a little. Also turned down my electric griddle to about 300 F. (I make regular pancakes @ 350 F.) Turned out great, I liked how hearty they were and the touch of spice was nice. Kids ate them up.

I made these beauties this morning for my three going off to their first day of school. They turned out great and I used all purpose flour instead of wheat. The electric griddle was about 325 F. It was a hit!!!

I made these for breakfast yesterday and we all loved them. The only change I made was substituting brown sugar for the honey because the hubs is allergic to honey. Love them! We will be making these over and over. Thanks for the amazing recipes! Half of the meals I make come from your site! Thank you!

Mel – made these this morning and they were awesome! Loved that they could be made ahead and just put on the griddle in the morning. Great flavor and the oatmeal makes them hearty but yet they are still light. Thanks!

Just wanted to come back and comment that I made these, and they are hands down the best pancakes I’ve ever served to my family. Thanks for sharing. They are now the permanent recipe for pancake mornings!

We loved these. Now that it’s fall I feel like they are practically begging to be mixed with some pumpkin into pumpkin oatmeal pancakes. Any ideas on how to alter the recipe if I added some pumpkin (ie add some additional flour so it’s not too liquidy?)

Oh my! These are delicious. I love that you can make the batter the night before, which then makes me look more on the ball in the morning than my family ever thought possible. And healthy to boot? You’re a rock star in my book.

I’ve made these for dinner and 8 hours is plenty of time for the batter- they were delicious! Do you know if I make the full recipe but can’t eat them all could I freeze them and toaster-warm-them-up for later?

These were SO good. I used normal oats and the batter was very thick in the morning. I took me a while to find the right temperature to have the pan at (I had to throw some away.) These will be a new regular in our house!

I wanted to love these, but there was something that just didn’t work for us. I followed the directions exactly, but this morning (10 hours later) the batter was super super thick. I made a few and they were just huge and took a while to cook so I added more buttermilk. That made them better, but I still had a bit of trouble getting the inside to cook – they puffed up so much. Anyway, I liked the flavor, but they just seemed super heavy. However, nutella makes everything better and my 2 year old thought we were having “cookies” for breakfast so it was still a win!

I just wanted to let you know that my family and I really enjoyed this recipe. I made buttermilk because I didn’t have any on hand, used all purpose flour, and added wheat germ. In the morning I stirred them up and added some red food coloring to make them pink (it’s my daughters favorite color). My Husband couldn’t even tell they contained oatmeal. I have an overnight recipe for waffles and crepes and now I found the perfect one for pancakes. Thank you!

We had these for breakfast today. I didn’t have any nutmeg, so I used pumpkin pie spice and 1% milk with a dash of lemon juice. De-lish! Hearty, healthy breakfast. You are right though, the key is cooking low and slow….and Nutella on the top is imperative.

I accidentally left the honey out and they were just as tasty as the original. Something to think about for all the sugar watching people out there! Love your recipes Mel. We are best friends you just dont know it yet.

I have made these a few times now and they are delicious. Thanks Em and Mel. They are so flavorful as is that there is no need for syrup or any topping. I add milled flaxseed and chia seed for extra nutrition and fiber right before putting on griddle. I love these are made with whole wheat flour. I have been taking them to the office for an afternoon pick me up treat.

I was very excited to try these for my kids, but only had old fashioned oats. I did grind them up a bit before using, but the batter is very runny this morning.
I will try these again with quick oats…love the idea of having the batter ready to go when we wake up! 🙂

Just came across this recipe and had to tell you that Emily was my roommate in college and so was your cousin Kate. We had sooooo much fun together and I have fond memories of Emily cooking the most delicious meals for us from your family cook book! Can’t wait to try these pancakes! I’ll eat anything with your family seal on it!

Mel,
I just love these pancakes! I’ve made them several times and they are always a hit! Lately I’ve been using kefir instead of buttermilk and they are just as yummy and tender. Love your recipes.
Sincerely,
Danielle

Mel,
Mel, my family loves these pancakes! Typically I make the batter early in the morning while getting school lunch packed, and then eat them for a “breakfast for dinner” night. Just realized as I was planning our camping trip this weekend that this would be the perfect breakfast for camping – can make the batter ahead of time and keep it in the cooler! I usually mash 3 ripe bananas and add them to the batter right before cooking, along with a little extra milk (and skip the honey). Then we eat them with Nutella. Aaaaamazing!